[Cover design by A. Rodchenko.] [Book about Books] Kniga o knigah. April, 1924. №1-2.

Cover design by A. Rodchenko.

[Book about Books] Kniga o knigah. April, 1924. №1-2.

Moscow: State Publishing House, 1924. 8vo (275x174mm), 124 pages, illustrated.

In original illustrated wrappers (designed by A. Rodchenko); yellowed, lightly worn. Unopened, lightly foxed. Includes a 4-page pamphlet Bibliograficheskie Listovki (Bibliographic Leaflets); yellowed. Overall in good condition.5000 copies printed.

First issue of the magazine. Features a cover designed by the renowned Soviet photographer and constructivist Alexander Rodchenko (1891–1956).

Kniga o knigah (1924) was a bibliographical magazine curated by Sergey Mstislavsky (1876-1943), Russian-Soviet writer and political activist, a prominent member of The Scythians. Kinga o knigah was his first, short-lived editorial project that would lay the groundwork for his later work in Znamya literary journal and Federaziya publishing house.

The purpose of the journal was described by the editorial team as introducing readers to new Russian and foreign literature, as well as explaining the essence of the book process, from the author's initial concept to the bookstore or library shelf.

The first page of the magazine is topped by the image of Vladimir Lenin’s profile, followed by the first bibliographical article dedicated to Lenin’s Literature.

We begin this first page of our new journal with the name of Vladimir Ilyich - not only because that name naturally and inevitably arises as a guiding spirit at the threshold of every revolutionary venture, but also because it is in Lenin, in the interplay between his vast, rich literary legacy and his practical revolutionary activity, that we see not merely a model, but the very archetype of the authentic writer of our own era and the one to come.

From the library of Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich (1873-1955), Vladimir Lenin's personal secretary.

OCLC locates six copies of this edition: New York Public Library, Princeton University Library, Williams College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. University Libraries.